Wine Jobs in Philadelphia

Wine Job Listings for Philly Metro

Looking for a job in the wine trade? You are in the right place. Whether you are a winemaker, sommelier, or bartender: you can find the perfect job right here! We bring in our daily feed for all restaurant and wine trade positions from a dozen sources. Find all available wine jobs in Philadelphia today! Educate yourself! Prior to applying for a job in the wine trade, you should consider professional wine certification. For a full list of suggested programs, including sommelier certification, we strongly suggest you check out the SOMM website. It shows the breakdown of all major wine certification programs, and how they relate to each other (full disclosure: the Wine School of Philadelphia is a NWS member).

Featured Job Opportunities

Winery/Facility Maintenance Technician

Harvest Cellar Worker

Retail Wine Buyer

East Coast Sales Manager

Harvest Cellar Worker

Hospitality Specialist

Accounts Payable Associate

Harvest – Lab Technician

Italian Wine Buyer

Wine Director

Winemaker

Staff Accountant

Sr. QC Technician

Winery Representative

General Winery Technician

Senior Portfolio Director

Sommelier

Be Notified First of Upcoming Wine Jobs

We’ve seen hundreds of job postings and thousands of applicants in the Philadelphia Metro region. To insure that qualified applicants get the first crack at the best paying jobs, we now issue all job postings via our Wine Jobs Newsletter.

Apply for a Wine Job

Name

Email Address

Certification

NWS Certification Level

CMS Certification Level

SWE Certification Level

WSET

Number

3 + 4 =

Submit a Job Posting

Need staff? We will put you in contact with all the right jobs candidates.

Submit a Job Posting

Name

Email Address

Contact Details

Company

Job Title & Requirements

Number

9 + 14 =

Winemaker 101

Winemaking Process: How Grapes Are Converted Into Fine-Tasting Wine

Dark-colored (black) grapes are used to create red wine, which can have range in color from intense violent (young wine) to brick red (mature wine) to brown (older wine). The color is all dependent on what level of wine it falls into.

The majority of black grapes will produce a greenish-white color. The grape skin brings about the red color due to its anthocyan pigmentations. There are exceptions, however. For example, the uncommon teinturier variations can generate a red-colored juice. A good chunk of the production technique for red wine entails extrapolating the grape skin’s flavor and color.

How Are Grapes Changed Into Wine Once They Get To The Winery

When grapes arrive to the winery, they’re often an assortment of individual berries, bunches, leaves and stems. When stems are present in the fermentation process, it can cause the wine to taste bitter. De-stemming ensures the grapes are separated from the leaves and stems.

After the grapes have been de-stemmed, they are typically crushed lightly. This usually involves a pair of rollers with a space between them so the winemaker can choose between no crushing, light crushing and hard crushing.

The combination of the grapes, juice, skins and seeds is referred as a must, which is then pumped into a concrete or stainless steel vessel or an oak vat s that it gets fermented.

Once the must is placed into the vessel, the yeast found on grape skins or in the environment will begin the alcoholic fermentation process. The must sugars are changed into alcohol with the by-products being:

Heat

Carbon dioxide

Some winemakers would rather control this process by including certain types of yeasts from the Saccharomyces cerevisiae species.

Not long after the must is put into the vessel, the division of both the liquid and solid phases begins. The grape skins will create a cap after floating to the top. To get the most flavor and color extraction, it’s vitally important to boost the contact that occurs between the liquid phase and the skins. This can be attained by doing four things:

Punching the cap down

Immersing the cap

Pushing over

Drain and return

The fermentation process generates heat, and when it’s not controlled, the fermenting temperature can exceed 104 degrees Fahrenheit. This heat can hinder the flavor and destroy the yeast. Therefore, refrigeration systems help with temperature control. Now, winemakers have their own opinion on what the best temperature is in regards to fermentation:

Fruitier red wines are often developed from temperatures that range from 77 to 82.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

Tannic wines that are more for the long-aging process is often better in high temperatures of 82.4 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

A Second Fermentation Process To Help In The Wine Process

After the alcoholic fermentation takes place for the red wines, a second microbiological change happens – it’s known as malolactic fermentation. This is when malic acid, naturally found in grape juice, is changed into lactic acid due to the bacteria influence. The process is typically done for red wines, taking place naturally due to the existence of lactic acid bacteria wineries often have.

Once this process is done, the red wine is typically removed from the remaining parts and the preservative sulphur dioxide is added to keep bacterial spoilage and oxidation from happening.

The majority of red wine will be aged before it’s bottled – taking place from as little as several days to more than 18 months. The aging process can occur in small or big oak barrels, concrete tanks or stainless steel tanks. Bear in mind that the oak barrels will impact the wine flavor

Wine School of Philadelphia

The Wine School is located in the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood in Center City